The Daily Spin, July 3

Young Thug | BUSINESS IS BUSINESS

Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023. 

Today kicks off a special series called Saturday Nights at the Club, in which I review albums suggested by a Discord group of friends. It’ll run for the next few months, so every Saturday, come back for a little fun with each of these. 

Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.

If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!

Album: BUSINESS IS BUSINESS (2023)

Artist: Young Thug

Link:   

 

With Business Is Business, Young Thug continues his trend of defiance across all avenues, from the way he has continually gone against the grain with his music to the way he’s not hesitated to flaunt subversion of gender stereotypes, to putting an album out while awaiting trial - 14 months behind bars, but this album still makes its presence known.

The production and work is classically Thugger, with a star-studded feature list - and yet, partially because of the caliber of those features, I find myself wanting more. Drake’s opening feature on ‘Parade on Cleveland’ is the weakest part of the album for me, and while it trends upward, hitting particular highs about a third in and later, three-quarters down, it’s never consistent enough to warrant any sort of sustained love.

Most notably, the album feels very poorly ordered - and, to that point, noted producer Metro Boomin put together a slightly altered cut of the album that makes a significant difference for the better - reworking to fit Drake’s worse feature deeper into the fold, cutting Nate Ruess’ awkward appearance as the closer and moving it up a slot. Doing this, even with Metro’s edits and minor changes aside, would have made a world of difference for my enjoyment, because it becomes such a significantly more cohesive listening experience. 

People seem to be ascribing a deeper meaning to this record, as though Thug is trying to do some soul-searching through his work on this album, but I don’t really see any of it. I see the same man that has walked the tightrope between comedy and tragedy for his entire career doing that same long journey another time, folding in those moments of contempt and desperation under features from some of the biggest names in the game, as he’s done for a decade now. Business as usual.

Rating: 7.6/10

Best Tracks: Wit Da Racks; Jonesboro; Mad Dog

Worst Tracks: Parade on Cleveland; Hellcat Kenny